Delivery system for cloth



United States [72] Inventors Arthur Schwenk Gibbsboro, New Jersey;

Michael L. Wajda; Herschel Baron, Philadelphia; Herbert V. Jacobs, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania [21] Appl. No. 736,714 [22] Filed June 13, 1968 [45] Patented [73] Assignee Nov. 10, 1970 Said Schwenk, Wajda and Baron assignors to Jacobs Machine Corporation Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a corporation of Pennsylvania.

[54] DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR CLOTH 11 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 271/33, 271/26 [51] Int. Cl B65h 3/20 [50] Field ofSearch 271/26, 33; l12/121.12

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,867,038 7/1932 Upham 271/26 2,819,075 1/1958 Noon i 271/58 3,386,396 6/1968 Jacobs 271/26 Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Att0rneyCaesar, Rivise, Bernstein and Cohen ABSTRACT: A delivery system for cloth comprising pickup means to pickup and deliver one-by-one the topmost piece of cloth from a stack of pieces of porous cloth, and to deliver said topmost piece of cloth toward a sewing station, the improvement comprising means to direct at least one blast of air toward said topmost piece of cloth prior to the delivery thereof by said pickup means.

Patented Nov. 10, 1970 3,539,177

Sheet l of 4 a INVENTORS ARTHUR 'SCHWENK MICHAEL L.WAJDA HERSCHEL BARON l ,HER a ear v.,uacoss E t??? a) v ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 10, 1970 135mm Sheet Q of 4 INVENTORS.

ARTHUR SCHWEN K MICHAEL L.WAJDA HERSCHEL BARON HiqERI V. JACOBS W 4 TTOR/VEYS.

u BY

Patented Nov. 10 1970 3,539,177

Sheet 1 of 4 INVENTORS. ARTHUR SCHWENK MICHAEL L.WAJDA BY HERSCHEL BARON ,HiRflERI V. J,ACOBS flaw/(00m ATTORNEYS.

DELIVERY SYSTEM FORCLOTH This invention relates to a delivery system forcloth and in particular relates to a new and preferred device ,of this general class. I I

It is also known in Jacobs Us. Pat Nos. 3,223,059 and.

3,386,396 to provide for a feeding of .plies of. cloth, one-byposed to the forward movement as indicated by arrow 11.

During most of the time period when the air jets 12 are active, a bale l4 restsupon the topmostpiece of goodslS in actual physical contact with topmost piece of the goods.

As shown in FIG. 4 air jets l2 blast backwardly toward baffle 16, which is preferablyslightly spacedabove the topmost piece 15, but still has abloeking function in causing a conone by an automatic pickup means involving the use of a tacky adhesive tape alone or in combination with vacuum means.

These pickupdevices have performedextremely well, even under conditions where thetopmost piece of, cloth. strongly adheres to the remainder of the stack,-a phenomenon often characterized as fiber entanglement. a p 3 In order to overcome the effects of fiber entanglement,v a pin means has been added to the pickup device as disclosed and claimed in said Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,396. However, the present inventors have recognized that the fiber 'entanglemcnt itself should be weakened in orderto minimize and prac-f Q tically eliminate the possibility of feeding failure.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a delivery system for cloth which weakens the ten dency of adjacent plies of cloth to adhere together, and

thereby decreases and possibly eliminates the fouling effects of weakening the effects of fiber entanglement with such bale siderable portion of the air blasts,t p,rebound and swirl about,

{15 and this has the-further effect of loosening the topmost piece 15 from the piece of goodsimmediately below it.

As indicated in FIG. 3 the plies of porous cloth 18 are preferablysupplied in a stack that is assembled upon a platform 2%. The cloth usually handled in accordance with the present invention is porous cloth that is cut to a configuration like a shirt front before being assembled upon the platform 20. i

As shown in, Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,396 the plies of porous cloth are fed one-by-one toward a sewing station and then on to a cutting and stacking station. At the sewing station one or more operations areperformed upon each ply of cloth,

like sewing a row of buttons or forming a row of buttonholes.

As further disclosed in said Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,396, the disclosure of whichis incorporated herein by reference,

- the plies of cloth are. fed one-.byrone by an automatic pickup means, like the pickup means 22 as shown in FIG, 1. Since the particular mechanism of the. pickup means 22 is shown in either Jacobs US. Pat. Nos. 3,223,059 or 3,386,396, it will be only generally described here. In particular the pickup means 22 presents atackyadhesive surface 22A to the topmost ply 15 of cloth. I he pickup means 22 also has a vacuum tube 23- A that is positioned immediately infront of the tacky adhesive means not interfering with the delivery of the cloth toward the sewing station.

The foregoing aswell as other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a delivery system which involves the use of means to direct one or more blasts of air toward the topmost piece of cloth of a stack of pieces of cloth prior to the delivery action of the pickup means. A hold-down bale is provided to prevent misorientation of the stack during the air blast operation, and means are provided to lock the holddown bale away from the topmost piece of cloth during the delivery action ofa pickup means.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed means 22-A. Again the precise relationship of the vacuum tube to the tacky adhesive means may vary, and in some instances the vacuum tube 23-A may be placed along side of the tacky adhesive means 22-A or even behind the adhesive means, but none of this forms any part of the present invention.

description when considered in connection with the accom- FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of the bale driving and locking mechanism and related parts wherein the bale is about tobe pivote'd'upon the topmost piece of cloth;

FIG. 6 is aview similar been pivoted upon the topmostpiece of cloth;

FIG. 4- is a sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of-FIG.

pivoting of roller 24 causes pickup 22 to drop down so. that tacky adhesive means 22-A contact the topmost ply of goods 15. The pickup then rises and kicks forwardly. As the pickup t to FIG. 5 but wherein the bale has u FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 wherein the bale has been cloth involving a pickup devicewith air blast means .embody ing the present invention. In' particular there isshown theair. jets 12 which blast backwardly or in a direction generally op 22 starts to rise, the vacuum tube 23,-A becomes effective to assist the tacky adhesive means 22-A in the lifting and holding function. The vacuum will be turned off so that it does not interfere with the further delivery function of the pickup 22.

. cloth, and then; the pickup cycle repeats itself.

The manner by which the pickup 22 descends, rises, kicks forward andso on, is controlled by the action of the support rollers 24am! 26 which coact together through coupling 28, all in a manner as described in said Jacobs U.S. Pat. No.

Asfurther shown in FIG. 1:, support rods 34 and 36 extend on each side of the platform 20 with the rods 34 and 36 being joined together 'at bridging section 37.

As shown in FIGJ! the air jets l2 are fed by a compressed air tube, 40 that co-nn ects to a manifold 42 from which the air jets 12 extendbackwardly. The manifold is supported from each side in blocks;44 that are attached to the support rods 34. The air jets 12 are actuated on signal by solenoid means when there is assurance that bale 1 4 is contacting topmost piece 15.

As can best be seen in FIGS. '1 and 3 the baffle 16 is secured to a cross rod 46 thatisheld in blocks 48,,which are suspended from support rods 34. The baffle 16 is sufficiently wide to extend across the width of cloth 18, as shown in FIG. 2, and is held in blocks 50 that extend from the cross rod 46. The for- -ward edge 52 of baffle 16 is bent a bit toward the stack of cloth 18 in order to provide a more direct stopping or muffling action upon the blasting air. i

It will be seen that it is preferred that air blast emanate from the jets 12 when the bale 14 is in actual contact with the topmost piece of goods 15 as shown in-FIG. 4. This will prevent the topmost piece of goods 15 from being blown away or disturbed from its predetermined position at the top of the stack. Misorientation of the topmost piece 15 could create malfunction, and so it is quite desirable that the bale 14 exercise a holding function.

However, it is conceivable that other means for holding the topmost ply of goods 15 in place can be devised. It is to be recalled that the bale 14 has another function. This is to actuate the machinery (including gears 20-A and 211-8 of FIG. 3 through pawl 20-C of FIG. that causes the platform 20 to rise from time to time in order to maintain the topmost piece of goods at essentially the same level since otherwise as the plies of cloth are fed one-by-one toward the sewing area, the height of the topmost piece of goods next to be fed would gradually be dropped to a level that could not be reached by the pickup or feeder foot 22. The aforesaid function of the bale 14 is described in said Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,059 as well as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,963,694, 2,083,296 and Reissue It thereforefollows that while the bale 14 should be in contact with the topmost piece of cloth 15 as shown in FIG. 4 to hold the topmost piece 15 in place during the air blasts, that the bale 14 must be then pivoted upwardly or in a clockwise sense as viewed in FIG. 4 about pivot rod 54 FIG. 1) so that the bale 14 will not interfere with the removal of the topmost ply 15 by the delivery action ofthe pickup means 22. Aside from the foregoing, there need not necessarily be any precise coordination between the bale 14 and the pickup 22, the only requirement being that the bale 14 be pivoted upwardly from the topmost ply 15 before the pickup 22 exerts its forwardly feeding action. It is preferred that the bale 14 be pivoted away before the pickup 22 begins to lift.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen in view ofthe following description of the various cams and other driving means (located on the outside of frame 38 as seen in FIG. 1), that the invention can be better understood by keeping in mind the movements of the pickup 22 and the bale 14 together with the activation of the air jets 12.

The particular sequence can best be understood by starting after the pickup 22 is in its most forward position as when it has just delivered a piece of cloth forwardly to the rollers 30 and 32. As the pickup starts to move rearwardly, the bale 14 will pivot in a counterclockwise sense as viewed in FIG. 4 downwardly to contact the topmost piece of goods 15.

With contact safely made, the solenoid-actuated air jets 12 will blast backwardly, and this will continue so long as the bale 14 contacts the topmost piece of cloth. As a matter of safety,

the air jet means 12 will be turned off for at least afraction of a second before the bale 14 is about to lift. It will be appreciated that the air jet means are actuated by solenoid means (not shown) which are activated when the bale 14 will be surely in contact with a topmost piece of goods 15.

During the time when the bale 14 contacts the topmost piece of cloth 15, the pickup means 22 continues to move rearwardly and starts to descend. By this time the air jet means 12 will be deactivated, and the bale 14 will pivot upwardly so as not to interfere with the feeding function of the pickup 22. With the bale 14 now away from contact with the topmost piece of cloth 15, the tacky adhesive surface 22-A will contact the topmost piece of cloth 15, and the pickup 22 will start to lift to begin its delivery cycle.

Because of the action of the air jets 12, with the released air rebounding and swirling by virtue of the blocking action ofthe baffle 16, the topmost ply 15 has been essentially freed from any fiber entanglement that may have existed with respect to the piece of cloth immediately below it. It is therefore seen that the feeding action proceeds smoothly.

As previously discussed, the bale 14 should be held away from the topmost piece of cloth 15 during the feeding cycle. In order to ensure this, the present invention also contemplates a locking arrangement whereby the bale 14 will be locked in a position away from the topmost piece of cloth 15 or from any drape thereof as the forward edge of cloth 15 is picked up and fed forwardly'by the action of the pickup 22. It should be kept in mind that other techniques may be worked out whereby the bale 14 could be held away from the topmost piece of goods 15. Also, as previously stated, other types of hold-down means could be .designedin order to prevent the topmost piece of cloth 15 from being blown away or misoriented by the action of the air jet means 12, with such holddown means then being deactivated or removed during the feeding of the pickup 22. As shown in FIG. 1 the bale 14 is mounted on pivots 54 and 54-A that a are secured in frame 38..

The particular elements for actuating and moving the pickup 22 and the bale 14 will be understood by reference to the left-hand side of FIG. 1, as well as FIGS. 5 to 8 inclusive.

As shown on the left-hand side of FIG. 5 there is a main drive rod 56 that is reciprocated back and forth by a source like a motor (not shown). The forward end 58 of the main drive rod 56 is secured at 60 to a connecting rod 62 which extends generally downwardly. The connecting rod 62 has an upper tab to which is secured at '66 a cam drive rod 68 with the rod 68 extending rearwardly to end 70 which is. pivotally secured at 72 to the pickup cam 74 which is pivotally secured at 75 to frame 38.

As further shown in FIG. 5 there is a roller 76 extending from an arm 78 with bushing 79. The arm 78 is biased in a counterclockwise sense under spring pressure (not shown) so that the roller 78 is always in engagement with the upper edge of the cam 74. It is therefore seen that as the drive rod 68 moves from left to right or rearwardly in the direction of arrow 80, that the roller 76 follows closely upon the upper edge of the cam 74. In particular the pivotable roller 26 of FIG. 1 is caused to pivot in a counterclockwise direction as the arm 78 itself moves in a counterclockwise sense going from FIG. 5 to FIG. 6 and then to FIG. 7.

As further shown in FIG. 5 the connecting rod 62 is pivotally secured at 82 to the frame 38. A bale drive rod 84 is resiliently secured to the connecting rod 82 and is generally driven by the movement of the connecting rod 62, with one notable exception as indicated in FIG. 7, and which will be discussed hereinafter.

As seen in FIG. 5 the bale drive rod 84 is secured upon the connecting rod 62 by-virtue of the slot 86 in the rod 84 which acts to receive in-captive fashion a nub 88 which in itself extends from a fixed post 90 by virtue of connecting coil spring 92. The rod 84 extends rearwardly past the cam 74 and terminates in end 94 adjacent an opening 96 in the frame 38.

As can be seen in FIG. 5 a bale releasing cam 98 is pivotally secured at 100m the frame 38. A spring 102 anchored at 104 was connected to the bale releasing cam 98, and tends to urge it in a counterclockwise sense about pivotal connection 100 as viewed in FIG. 5.

As could be seen in FIG. 8 the bale releasing cam 98 includes a backing plate 106 which has a backing plate 107 including a hub 108.from which a supporting spur 110 is con nected to the frame 38. The pivot 54 for the bale 14 is directly connected from,bale drive rod 84 through the opening 96in frame 38.

As further seen in FIG. 8 there is a bale support ll2 'which is secured to the frame 38, but does not pass through the frame 38. The bale support'l12 assists the pivot 54 in supporting and pivoting the bale 14. Both the pivot 54 and the support 112 are received in a connecting assembly 114, which as shown in FIG. 8 has an adjusting knob 116.

The bale releasing cam 98 possesses a locking peg 118, and a stop is provided on the frame 38 for the bale releasing cam.

The bale drive rod 84 possesses a release peg 122 which acts to release the latch 124 that is pivotally secured at 126 to the frame 38. The releasing action will soon be described. The latch 124 is biased in a clockwise-direction about the point 126 as viewed in FIG. 5. The spring 128 is anchored at 130 to the frame 38.

In view of the forgoing description of parts, the action of the cam drive rod 68 and the bale drive rod 84 will now be described in order to illustrate the to and fro rocking of bale 14 to contact topmost ply and then be pivoted away followed by the locking of the bale 14 in a position that is somewhat raised above the topmost ply 15 of goods. Finally, the bale 14 is freed to be ready to be pivoted again down upon the next topmost ply 15.

With reference to FIG. 5 the main drive rod 56 initially moves both cam drive rod 68 and bale drive rod 84 rearwardly. This causes pivoting of pickup cam 74 and arm 78 pivots in a counterclockwise sense to move pickup 22 rearwardly. Simultaneously bale drive rod 84, through pivot 54, pivots bale 14 about l5 to contact the topmost ply 15. This occurs in moving from the position of FIG. 5 to the position of FIG. 6. The air blasting now starts.

As the main drive rod 56 continues to move the cam drive rod 68 rearwardly, the roller 76 reaches dropping edge 142 of cam 74 of FIG. 7 and pickup 22 descends toward the topmost ply 15. Also, the nose 134 of cam 74 has contacted edge 136 of bale release cam 98 as shown in FIG. 6. With continued movement of cam 74 the bale release cam 98 is pivoted about point 100 to the vertical position of FIG. 7. As this occurs, the forward edge 144 of backing plate 107 is urged against end 94 of bale drive rod 84. Thus backing plate 107 forces bale drive rod 84 forwardly in the direction of arrow 146, and this causes bale 14 to pivot upwardly and away from the topmost ply 15. The air blasting was stopped by solenoid deenergization immediately before the bale 14 begins to rise.

It is to be noted that the bale drive rod now moves in opposition to the main drive rod 56. This occurs because of the latitude allowed by slot 86, and the floating securement of bale drive rod 84 to connecting rod 62 through peg 88 and spring 92.

The bale 14 is locked in a position away from topmost ply 15 as locking peg 118 of bale releasing cam 98 slides against finger 138 oflatch 124, and then the locking peg I18 slips into locking groove 140 as seen in FIG. 7. This position is held until main drive rod 56 reverses to bring both cam drive rod 68 and bale drive rod 84 forwardly.

As bale drivc rod 84 is moved forwardly, the release peg 122 of bale drive rod 84 hits edge 148 of latch 124. to rock latch 124 in a counterclockwise sense as seen in FIG. 7, and against spring 128. The bale releasing cam 98 now pivots under the urging of spring 102 to the inclined position of FIG. 5. Of course the reversal of main drive rod 56 means that pickup 22 has already grasped the topmost piece of goods, is rising or has already risen and has begun to feed forwardly in it delivery action. After delivery, cam 74 is back to the position of FIG. 5, and the other elements are. also in their position of FIG. 5 so the cycle may now repeat itself when main drive rod 56 starts to move rearwardly.

It is to be noted that bale' 14 also has the function of raising platform in incremental amounts as the plies of cloth are fed one by-one. This is done to maintain a constant level for the top of the stack pieces of cloth. This function of the bale I4 is described in Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,059. The incremental raising of the platform 20 is initiated by the action of pawl 20-C which is attached to bale drive rod 84 as shown in FIG. 5. Whenever the bale is pivoted down upon the topmost ply l5, and the bale is able to move through most of its pivoting motion so that as it approaches its theoretical extreme low point, the pawl 20-C will actuate gearing 20-A and 20-B as well as the third meshing gear (not shown) to the left of gear 20-A in FIG. 2. This action forms no part of the present invention, but is described in Jacobs U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,059 as well as us. Pat. Nos. 1,963,694, 2,083,296 and Reissue No.

tion with the operation of a top feeding device wherein the air blast is directed to the topmost piece of goods, it is clear that the present invention has application to other types of feeders, like bottom feeders. Thererfore, terms like topmost" and pickup", etc. as used in the claims are to be understood in a relative sense. Also, the baffle 16 may be adjusted at the blocks 48 in order to obtain the precise amount of blocking and swirling action of air in order to produce a satisfactory amount of rippling or separation of the topmost ply 15 from fiber entanglement.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully illustrate my invention that others may, by applying current or future knowledge, readily adapt the same for use under various conditions of service.

We claim:

1. A delivery system for cloth comprising pickup means to contact and deliver forwardly one-by-one the topmostpiece of cloth from a stack of pieces of cloth toward a sewing station, the improvement comprising air blast means to direct at least one blast of air toward said topmost piece of cloth prior to the delivery thereof by said pickup means, said system further including a baffle positioned in the path of said blast of air in order to cause rebounding and swirling of said air to minimize fiber entanglement of said topmost piece.

2. The invention of claim 1 including a bale adapted to contact said topmost ply when said air blast means are active.

3. The invention of claim 2 including means to pivot said bale upon said topmost piece of cloth prior to the time said air blast means are actuated, and means to pivot said bale away from said topmost piece of cloth prior to the time said pickup means contacts said topmost piece of cloth.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein said air blast means direct at least one blast of air in a direction generally opposite to the direction in which said pickup means delivers said topmost piece of cloth, but said blast of air being also directed toward said topmost piece of cloth.

5. The invention of claim 1 wherein said slightly above said topmost ply.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein the forward edge of said baffle is inclined more steeply toward said topmost ply.

7. The invention of claim 3 wherein said air blast means are deactivated before the operation of said means to pivot said bale away from said topmost piece of cloth.

8. The invention of claim 3 including means to lock said bale in a position away from said topmost piece of cloth.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said bale is actuated by a bale drive rod and said pickup means are actuated by a pickup cam that is driven by a cam drive rod, with said bale drive rod and cam drive rod being rocked by a main drive rod, a source of power to rock said main drive rod and a connecting rod connecting said main drive rod to said bale drive rod.

10. The invention of claim 9 including a bale release cam having a locking peg with said bale drive rod having a release peg, said bale drive rod being floatingly secured to said connecting rod.

11. The invention of claim 10 and further including a latch which holds said locking peg in order to initiate said locking means, said pickup cam acting to direct said bale release cam, with means on said bale release cam to urge said bale drive rod in a direction opposite to the one in which it is being driven by said main drive rod in order to pivot said bale away from said topmost piece of cloth, the floating securement of said drive rod permitting said rod to move in said opposite direction whereby continued opposite movement of said rod causes said locking peg to move to a position where it is held by said latch, and further movement of said bale drive rod, causes said release peg to release said latch and permit said bale to be free again to pivot toward said topmost piece of cloth when actuated by said main drive rod.

baffle is spaced 

